Exploited workers, a labour policy’s empty promises
In July, while probing instances of forced labour in the seafood industry on India’s eastern coast, this writer met hundreds of women driven to desperation, peeling fish heads on cold tables without gloves, all for meagre wages as farming failed their families. Promised Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) and Provident Fund benefits at the time of recruitment, they were reclassified as “daily wagers” a month before my visit. There was a modest wage hike, but they lost both benefits as the company stopped contributions. Vulnerable, they toil long hours —trapped in exploitation that has come to define forced labour — exposing the fragility of their legal safeguards in India’s labour landscape.
Against this grim backdrop — where 11 million people endure modern slavery in India, the world’s highest — the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government unveiled the draft Shram Shakti Niti 2025, which is claimed to be a “future-ready” policy cloaked in “ancient Indian ethos” from texts such as Manusmriti, but is blind to the brutal realities that workers face.
A case of ‘employer ease’
Since late 2021, this writer has interviewed thousands of workers in steel factories, sandstone quarries, seafood plants, and textile mills (across west, northwest, east and south India) hired through middlemen on daily wages, without contracts and stripped of their rights. Paid off the payroll through contractors, these workers are denied legal benefits, languishing as part of the 90% informally employed workforce in India, as in a 2024 International Labour Organization (ILO) report.
This policy flouts labour laws, enables wage theft and erodes worker dignity, defying constitutional protections under Articles 14, 16, and 23. It is a cynical rebrand favouring cultural nostalgia and employer ease over justice for workers.
The policy introduces a portable Universal Social Security Account, merging Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, e-SHRAM, and State boards for lifelong health, pension, maternity, accident, and life insurance across sectors — invoking Article 41 (right to work, education, and public assistance).
Yet, it dodges funding — no gig employer mandates or state matches — risking the e-SHRAM’s paltry payouts. Digital IDs, in a situation of only 38% household literacy, result in the exclusion of women, senior citizens and low-literates, violating Article 15. Further, the absence of union safeguards affects bargaining. The initial phase must enforce offline access and tripartite funds, else this is a case of exploitation.
On the occupational safety front, the policy pledges strict enforcement of the 2020 Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, with risk audits and gender-sensitive standards, honouring Directive 42 (state can make provision to secure just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief) and ILO Convention 155 (women’s care-role risks).
But the goal of “near-zero fatalities” by 2047 appears fanciful without penalties and given the reality of inspector shortages. Digital tools exclude informal workers, undermining equality; ignoring gig mental health, while union audits weaken Article 19.
Areas of concern
The hints that the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) will become an employment facilitator, by using the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven National Career Service (NCS) for job matching, credential checks, and skill alignment in Tier-II/III cities and micro and small medium enterprises, merging Skill India to tackle 91.75% graduate mismatches. Yet, absent AI bias safeguards risk caste- and gender-based Article 15 violations.
Ignoring the Wages Code minima for 12 million gig workers — where “flexibility” is a cover for abuse — and unclear transition benefits demand ethics audits and union-vetted algorithms to curb tech-driven inequality.
The policy targets 35% female labour participation by 2030 (from 33.7%) through affordable childcare, flexible gigs, equal pay and apprenticeships — aligning with Article 15’s gender equity and the ILO Convention 195’s mobility goals. However, without quotas, penalties or sufficient maternity support for informal workers, there can hardly be success. Overlooking youth mental health and caste-gender data gaps hides the unique challenges that Dalit women face, making union-led audits essential for true dignity and progress.
The policy’s green-tech vision promotes AI-enhanced safety measures and reskilling opportunities for coal workers, aligning with the climate goals of Sustainable Development Goal 13 and the livelihood rights of Article 21. However, “just transitions” lack substance without income support or union involvement, risking violations of ILO Convention 29. Widening rural-AI gaps and urban-centric green jobs marginalise 400 million informal workers. Tripartite funding and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) safeguards are essential to avert an exploitative eco-trap that undermines dignity.
The policy, which hints at convergence through Labour and Employment Policy Evaluation Index (LEPEI) dashboards, aims to realise Article 12’s vision — of just governance — by linking the National Education Policy with Digital India. However, weak enforcement of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act risks enabling surveillance and undermining Article 19’s freedoms.
Amid exploitation and digital optimism, the Shram Shakti Niti 2025 projects a “rights-driven, future-ready” vision for Viksit Bharat. But there are gaps beneath its ambitious rhetoric such as weak regulatory oversight, digital exclusion, unenforced penalties and a fragile adherence to ILO conventions. All these would only accelerate the decline of unions in an expanding gig economy.
It is about dignity, rights and justice
Without concrete funding and institutional safeguards, the promise of universal social protection may collapse under its own weight. For millions trapped in informal and forced labour, the policy’s success will ultimately be measured not by its digital dashboards, but by its power to restore dignity, rights, and justice to India’s working poor.
The 2025-47 rollout needs urgent pilots, with rights audits for accountability. There needs to be tripartite enforcement, offline access for digitally excluded workers, and transparent grievance redressal. Without these, there is the risk of symbolic rhetoric over justice for India’s labouring millions.
Rejimon Kuttappan is a forced labour investigator
Published – November 12, 2025 12:08 am IST
